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Sunday, August 01, 2010

MONDAY 18TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR II

AUGUST 2, 2010MONDAY 18TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR II

JEREMIAH 28:1-17That same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king ofJudah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah sonof Azzur, a Gibeonite, spoke as follows to Jeremiah in the Temple ofYahweh in the presence of the priests and of all the people, 'YahwehSabaoth, the God of Israel, says this, "I have broken the yoke of theking of Babylon. In exactly two years' time I shall bring back all thevessels of the Temple of Yahweh which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylontook away from here and carried off to Babylon. And I shall also bringback Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah and all the exiles ofJudah who have gone to Babylon, Yahweh declares, for I shall break theyoke of the king of Babylon." ' The prophet Jeremiah then replied tothe prophet Hananiah in front of the priests and all the peoplepresent in the Temple of Yahweh. 'So be it!' the prophet Jeremiahsaid, 'May Yahweh do so! May he fulfil the words that you haveprophesied and bring all the vessels of the Temple of Yahweh and allthe exiles back to this place from Babylon. Listen carefully, however,to this word that I am now going to say for you and all the people tohear: From remote times, the prophets who preceded you and meprophesied war, disaster and plague for many countries and for greatkingdoms; the prophet who prophesies peace can be recognised as onetruly sent by Yahweh only when his word comes true.' The prophetHananiah then snatched the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiahand broke it. In front of all the people Hananiah then said, 'Yahwehsays this, "This is how, in exactly two years' time, I shall break theyoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and take it off the necks ofall the nations." ' At this, the prophet Jeremiah went away. After theprophet Hananiah had broken the yoke he had snatched off the prophetJeremiah's neck, the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, 'Go to Hananiahand tell him this, "Yahweh says this: You have broken the wooden yokesonly to make iron yokes to replace them! For Yahweh Sabaoth, the Godof Israel, says this: An iron yoke is what I now lay on the necks ofall these nations to enslave them to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.(They will be enslaved to him; I have even given him the wildanimals.)" ' The prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah,'Listen carefully, Hananiah: Yahweh has not sent you; and thanks toyou this people is now relying on what is false. And so, Yahweh saysthis, "I am going to send you off the face of the earth: you will diethis year (since you have preached rebellion against Yahweh)." ' Theprophet Hananiah died the same year, in the seventh month.

MATTHEW 14:13-21When Jesus received this news he withdrew by boat to a lonely placewhere they could be by themselves. But the crowds heard of this and,leaving the towns, went after him on foot. So as he stepped ashore hesaw a large crowd; and he took pity on them and healed their sick.When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, 'This is alonely place, and time has slipped by; so send the people away, andthey can go to the villages to buy themselves some food.' Jesusreplied, 'There is no need for them to go: give them something to eatyourselves.' But they answered, 'All we have with us is five loavesand two fish.' So he said, 'Bring them here to me.' He gave ordersthat the people were to sit down on the grass; then he took the fiveloaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said theblessing. And breaking the loaves he handed them to his disciples, whogave them to the crowds. They all ate as much as they wanted, and theycollected the scraps left over, twelve baskets full. Now about fivethousand men had eaten, to say nothing of women and children.

REFLECTIONIn the first reading, Jeremiah rebukes the false prophet Hananiah forprophesying a falsehood. Hananiah dies in that same year as punishmentfor his deception. How do we recognize a true prophet from a falseone?

When someone preaches about sensational cures, make-easy-money schemesand tells us that things are going well when they are not, we must notlisten to them. He most probably is a false prophet. The true prophetalways puts us in front of our reality, puts us face to face with ourcrosses and invites us not to be afraid of suffering. He does notpromise us a life without hardship, but tells us that Jesus will bewith us in times of trouble. He proclaims the love of God for sinnersand invites us to reconcile with Him. The physical miracles thataccompany the true prophet are merely signs which God gives so that wemay have faith. But once we start to believe in Him, the succeedingmiracles that He does in us are usually spiritual ones. We seeourselves being freed from longtime vices, coming to terms with ourenemies, our families rebuilt, becoming more generous with our moneyand time, etc. The true prophet always brings out fruits of conversionin his followers because he leads them to Jesus. On the other hand,the false prophet and his followers are often after some kind ofearthly gain, be it financial or otherwise.

Beware of false prophets because they are ravenous wolves underneathsheep's clothing, says the gospel. One day they will devour their preyand leave them destroyed.

PRAYER REQUESTSWe pray …… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for theunborn.… for the speedy recovery and healing of- See Yung Hui- Jo Marcelo- Jun Lee- Mon Torres- Susan… for the personal intentions of- J.E.S.- Patrick and Mary Ann… for the eternal repose of the souls of- Apolonio Lugsanay and Sepa Lugsanay- Miguel Fabie- William Guanzon and Asilda GuanzonEternal rest grant unto them and may perpetual light shine upon them.May they and all the dearly departed rest in peace.… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.- Birthday: Angel Salvador… for world peace and reconciliation.

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayersand for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

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